Form 8854 (expatriation statement)

Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement, required under §6039G when a citizen renounces or a long-term permanent resident (a green-card holder in at least 8 of the last 15 years) abandons that status. It establishes whether you are a covered expatriate, which turns on three independent tests: a net worth of $2,000,000 or more on the expatriation date; an average annual net income tax over the five prior years above an annually indexed threshold; or a failure to certify five years of full US tax compliance. Any one is enough. A covered expatriate falls under the §877A mark-to-market exit tax, which deems worldwide property sold at fair market value the day before expatriation, subject to an indexed exclusion amount, with separate regimes for deferred compensation and non-grantor trusts. Renouncing at the consulate ends citizenship; it does not end the tax obligation until this form is filed.